Tulare Lake Drainage District [TLDD] in Corcoran, Calif., has over 3,000 acres of impounded agricultural water and has been the subject of numerous studies for decades. This impounded water has been documented over the last several years as delineated in journals, web sites and newspapers. [www.water.ca.gov; Los Angeles Times (1994); University of California Center for Water Resources (2 studies), “Management effects on Selenium Fractionation, Speciation and Bioavailability in Sediments from Evaporation Basins” and “Transformation of Selenium species in Sediment and Wetland Management for the Enhancement of Selenium Volatilization and Remediation Efficiency”]; and the US Geological Survey studies. In addition to the above referenced studies and articles, several corporations have attempted to develop a systematic approach to treat the impound water and render it canal grade quality water for reintroduction to the ecosystem as agricultural based water mainly though redistribution of the water through the existing canals throughout central California.
The impounded water has several minerals and organics present that incorporate selenium, arsenic and uranium as contaminants of the impounded water and are in several forms, both as metallurgical and as organic species where selenium has been taken up by the bacteria, etc. as, e.g. seleno-methionine, seleno-cysteine and seleno-cystine, and are present in these forms to unacceptably high levels to prevent discharge as canal grade water.
Many of the studies have focused on traditional methods of eliminating the selenium, arsenic and uranium. For example, the University of California study on volatilization of the compounds as a method of eliminating the compounds from the impounded water. The focus of the studies, whether as private or public entities, has been on the elimination of the selenium analogs present in the water. [FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) of the United Nations titled “Agricultural Drainage Water Management in Arid and semi-Arid Areas”, FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 61]. In this study, they point out the arsenic and more importantly, the difficulty present in the treatment and the reduction of selenium in the impounded water from the region. Non-limiting examples of some of the selenium compounds are shown below:

Seleno-methionine; SeCl2: selenium (II) chloride; Se2Cl2: selenium (I) chloride; and [SeCl4]4: selenium (IV) chloride.
The contamination problems similar to those of the Tulare Lake Drainage District discussed above, are present in many other forms of contaminated impound water such as impound agricultural water, hydraulic fracturing (frac'ing) effluent of gas wells, and post anaerobic digested sludge effluent waste water.
It would be an advancement in the art to provide systems and processing for impound water contaminated with metals such as selenium, arsenic, uranium, and other undesirable metal or ion, as well as organic species.
It would be an advancement in the art to provide systems and processes for treating contaminated impound water to render it acceptable for environmental discharge or industrial recycling.